Woman killed in US operation in Afghanistan (Lead)

Kabul, Nov 23 (DPA) US-led troops killed a civilian woman and two militants in a clash in southern Afghanistan, while nine rebels including a senior commander and two policemen were killed in separate attacks, officials said Sunday.The woman was killed when coalition forces clashed with militants in Zabul province Thursday, US military said in a statement.

One man and two women - all civilians - were wounded in the clash and taken to a military hospital for treatment, it said.

In a separate incident, Taliban militants attacked the Aab Band district headquarters in Ghazni province in southern Afghaninstan Saturday night and wounded a police officer, provincial government spokesman Ismail Jahangir said.

He said the troops killed eight Taliban militants and wounded five others.

Two police officials were killed and three wounded when their vehicle was blown up by a mine in Andar district of the same province, Jahangir said.

NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said that forces killed a senior Taliban commander in Garmsir district of southern province of Helmand, ISAF said in a statement.

The statement said commander Mullah Asad was killed Nov 19.

“Asad was a senior Taliban operational commander for southern Helmand and was linked to numerous attacks in the Garmsir district.”

His death came three weeks after another senior commander in Garmsir district, Mullah Mashar, was killed during a similar operation, the statement added.

Separately, US-led forces detained eight suspected militants in an operation that targeted a commander of Haqqani network, an associate group of Taliban insurgent, Saturday, the US military said in a statement.

The captured rebels were involved in planning attack against Afghan and coalition forces in the region, as well as killing civilians who work with the government and foreign forces in the eastern region.

More than 70,000 international troops and over 150,000 Afghan security forces have been battling the resurgent Taliban fighters since the ouster of ultra-Islamic regime in a US invasion in late 2001.